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UPSKILL CANADA

Frequently Asked Questions

About Upskill Canada

Upskill Canada is a national talent platform that helps fast-growing companies access the talent they need to succeed while creating new career pathways for workers to rapidly transition into high-demand roles. It is pan-Canadian in scope, and supports Canadian-based employers, with a particular focus on SMEs in high-growth sectors including digital technology, cyber security, agricultural technology, advanced manufacturing, clean technology and biomanufacturing.

Upskill Canada will fund programs in all regions of the country.

Upskill Canada serves both its participants and Canadian employers, through the program’s delivery and network partners. 

Upskill Canada participants must have at least three years of work or volunteer experience (does not have to be consecutive years), either completed in or outside of Canada. Kindly note that work experience must be outside of full or part-time studies (high school or post-secondary), and all participants must be legally eligible to work in Canada. 

Connecting employers to robust pipelines of qualified talent is the primary purpose of Upskill Canada.  Upskill Canada will support Canadian-based employers, with a particular focus on SMEs, in key growth sectors including digital technology, cyber security, agricultural technology, advanced manufacturing, clean technology and biomanufacturing.

Upskill Canada aims to support Canadian employers, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in high-growth sectors, to better address their skills needs. It will do so by upskilling mid-career Canadians, including those from underrepresented groups, and helping them connect with new work opportunities in high-growth sectors. Ultimately, Upskill Canada aims to drive lasting improvements to the upskilling ecosystem by building close collaborations across training providers, employers, and other partners to design and deliver upskilling programs and shift mindsets around talent development and utilization.  

Upskill Canada will be distributing funding to qualified delivery partners to design and deliver employer-led upskilling programs. The first step is for prospective delivery partners to register their interest in working with Upskill Canada through our registration portal. Partners will be asked questions during the registration process that will help us stream partners and provide support based on the stage of program development, including accessing funding opportunities.  

Connecting employers to robust pipelines of qualified talent is the primary purpose of Upskill Canada. To do this, we must also connect the broadest possible network, including industry associations, economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, workforce planning boards, employment services, newcomer agencies, as well as training and post-secondary institutes. 

The value of a connected ecosystem will be felt by job seekers who have an easier time finding program opportunities, by employers who know where to go to tap into needed talent, and by organizations, who will be able to connect with a network of like minded organizations looking for opportunities to collaborate and drive impact.

For Delivery Partners

Canadian organizations that fall into one of the following categories can apply to receive program funding through Upskill Canada: 

  • Not-for-profit organizations 
  • For-profit organizations – only if they do not generate profits from the proposed program. 
  • Organizations involved in the post-secondary education sector 
  • Private colleges and other private training institutions 
  • Industry associations, and other business/sector associations 

Register your organization and program idea hereBased on your answers and stage of development, you will be placed in an application stream and either invited to submit a full application in an upcoming round or directed to additional support to further develop your concept. 

Yes! Part of the vision for Upskill Canada is a platform where organizations involved in talent acquisition and workforce development from across the country can connect to qualified talent pipelines and program opportunities. Upskill Canada has a partnerships team to connect and serve partners based on their needs, even if you are not applying directly for funding. 

Once you register, you will be connected to an Upskill Canada team member to discuss your application. When your application is deemed launch-ready, you will be invited to submit a full application to Upskill Canada. Applicants will have four weeks to submit their application and will be notified of their funding status within 8-10 weeks after submission. Registration will remain open, and an application portal will re-open to accept launch-ready applications approximately every 8 weeks.

An organization can only submit one application (one upskilling program) as lead applicant per sector per funding round. An organization may serve as a supporting partner on multiple applications per round.

Organizations who have been invited to apply will receive instructions via email on how to create a login and access the Upskill Canada application portal.

The deadline to submit your full application and all required documents will be approximately 4 weeks after the application portal opens. The specific date and time for the submission deadline will be indicated in the Upskill Canada application portal.  You will not be able to submit your application after this deadline and will have to wait until the portal re-opens for the next round of applications, in approximately 8 weeks.

Applicants will be asked to describe the specific job they are upskilling participants into, and to demonstrate employer demand for talent in those roles. This includes providing a minimum of 3-5 companies who have agreed to co-design the program and potentially hire the candidates upon program completion. 

In addition, applications will be evaluated for how their program design aligns with the six components of Palette’s upskilling model,  operational capacity and financial robustness of the lead applicant, program budget, accessibility and equity, diversity and inclusion approaches, and job placement strategies. 

View applicant guide ->

All applications submitted to Upskill Canada will go through an internal review process as well as an external review, provided by our Industry Review Panel, a group of industry leaders and hiring managers in talent, HR and people and culture roles, focused on reviewing proposals from a talent acquisition perspective. All proposals will be scored against an evaluation rubric with the Palette Skills board providing governance and fiduciary oversight. 

Our program application guide will provide details on what expenses are eligible or ineligible and any limits around costs. We expect proposals to provide budgets that are reasonable and defensible and in line with general market rates. As part of our application review process, we may come back with questions around certain expenses or budget lines if they appear to be outliers.

We do not have maximums on the amount of funding that an applicant can apply for. We have provided general guidelines for the average cost per participant, and budgets will be evaluated to ensure the best value for programming.  We will also undertake a financial assessment of each delivery partner to ensure you can support your commitment to the project for the entire duration of the project. 

Programs with demonstrated track records of success that align with Palette’s upskilling model can be funded through Upskill Canada. Delivery partners will be asked to demonstrate plans to expand and/or increase the impact of existing programs through funding.

Funding will be provided to applicants shortly after funding contracts have been signed. Applicants will be informed about the success of their program funding within approximately 8-10 weeks after submission of the full application.

Milestones and targets will be tracked through quarterly reports and ongoing lines of communications with our delivery partner managers. Where milestones are not met or numbers trend lower than target rates, partner support will be provided through our learning sandbox and partnerships team. Stronger measures, including potentially terminating funding, will be considered, if necessary.

An upskilling program deploys skill development to help an individual transition into a new job. The outcome of an upskilling program is job placement. It is important to note that we do not fund professional development, where the individual is gaining new skills but will remain in their current role. The transition to a new job role can be either vertical or horizontal. A person can move into a new company and/or new sector, or a person can get a promotion or move horizontally, from one area in an organization to another. The upskilling program should be designed to transition people to fill high-demand jobs.

Yes, we encourage delivery partners to collaborate with other training partners to develop unique delivery models. 

Delivery partners retain all intellectual property rights for any upskilling programs that are funded through Upskill Canada.

Upskilling programs will start based on the start dates agreed upon in the delivery contracts signed with partners. 

We have not set a minimum timeframe. The upskilling program should align with the six criteria of the Palette Skills model in the shortest timeframe for delivery to enable successful job placement for participants within 6 months of completion.

Delivery partners can deliver programs in-person or virtually or a hybrid. 

Upskill Canada has a mandate to ensure gender-balance and diversity across all upskilling programs, and will be looking for overall targets for equity-deserving groups from each proposed program. Targeted equity-deserving groups include:

  • Women
  • Racialized individuals
  • Newcomers
  • Persons with disabilities
  • Indigenous

Upskill Canada will target employers located across the country, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in high-growth sectors, to better address their skills needs. It will focus on strengthening key growth sectors, including 

  • Digital technology
  • Cyber security
  • Agricultural technology
  • Clean technology
  • Biomanufacturing
  • Advanced manufacturing

Upskill Canada has a mandate to ensure programs are delivered in each region of the country and to work to generate proposals from partners in all provinces. Program applications can target any region, but ensuring an equitable distribution of programs based on targets will be a consideration in the funding evaluation process.

For Employers

Register with Upskill Canada to connect with our partnerships team and learn about the different programs we support and how you can get involved. If you know the program or delivery partner you are interested in working with, you can also reach out to them directly.

Employers cannot apply for funding to upskill their own employees at this time. 

For Participants

Upskill Canada will operate a program access portal to provide a central location to find and connect with program opportunities. This portal will make it easy for participants and employers to locate programs relevant to them. It will also provide an easy way for network partners to refer participants and employers to opportunities across the platform. This portal will launch in the Fall 2023. 

Participants of upskilling programs must have at least three years of work experience. 

Note the following details:

  • Work experience can be outside of Canada  
  • Work experience does not need to be three consecutive years  
  • Work experience must be outside of full or part-time studies (high school or postsecondary)  
  • Work experience can include volunteer work 
  • Three years can be a combination of full-time or part-time paid/volunteer work, where full-time is defined as 30 or more hours per week and part-time is defined as less than 30 hours per week.  
  • A participant must be legally eligible to work in Canada  
  • Work permit holders should have at least one year on the permit after the start of the upskilling program

Participants do not need a high-school diploma or other credential to be eligible to participate in an Upskill Canada funded program. A minimum of three years of work experience is required as outlined in the applicant guide. 

Our focus for Upskill Canada is to transition mid-career workers, not new grads. Summer jobs, coops, etc. during PSE would not count towards the three years of work experience. 

There are no restrictions related to EI in regard to a participant being eligible for an upskilling program.

Learning Sandbox

The Learning Sandbox is a service provided by Upskill Canada to delivery partners to help them develop capacity to build programs that align with the Palette upskilling model. Through the Sandbox, the insights and best practices of program design that we have developed will be converted into workshops, webinars, tools, and other opportunities to support delivery partners. 

The purpose of the Learning Sandbox is to provide practical, hands-on support to delivery partners as they build and deliver upskilling programs. This includes:

● Provide products, programs, services, and tools to enable partners to build employer-led, job-focused upskilling programs
● Run workshops and webinars providing practical advice, tactics, and approaches to succeed at each stage of program development and delivery
● Capture case studies and success stories from across the ecosystem and highlight them to the partnership network.
● Analyze and evaluate program outcomes to identify best practices, opportunities for collaboration and areas where additional resource support is needed
● Convene peer networking and learning opportunities across delivery partners andother network partners to share insights and best practices

About Upskill Canada platform

Canadian organizations that fall into one of the following categories can apply to receive program funding through Upskill Canada: 

  • Not-for-profit organizations 
  • For-profit organizations – only if they do not generate profits from the proposed program. 
  • Organizations involved in the post-secondary education sector 
  • Private colleges and other private training institutions 
  • Industry associations, and other business/sector associations 

Register your organization and program idea here. Based on your answers and stage of development, you will be placed in an application stream and either invited to submit a full application (once open at the end of April) or directed to additional support to further develop your concept. 

Yes! Part of the vision for Upskill Canada is a platform where organizations involved in talent acquisition and workforce development from across the country can connect to qualified talent pipelines and program opportunities. Upskill Canada has a partnerships team to connect and serve partners based on their needs, even if you are not applying directly for funding. 

Once you register, launch-ready projects will be invited to submit a full application to Upskill Canada. The first round of applications will open at the end of April.  Applicants will have four weeks to submit their application and will be notified of their funding status within 8-10 weeks after submission. Registration will remain open, and a application portal will re-open to accept launch-ready applications approximately every 8 weeks. 

Once available, the application portal will remain open for four weeks.

The application portal will open approximately every 8 weeks to accept new program applications.

Applicants will be asked to describe the specific job they are upskilling participants into, and to demonstrate employer demand for talent in those roles. This includes providing a minimum of 3-5 companies who have agreed to co-design the program and potentially hire the candidates upon program completion. 

In addition, applications will be evaluated for how their program design aligns with the six components of Palette’s upskilling model,  operational capacity and financial robustness of the lead applicant, program budget, accessibility and EDI approaches, and job placement strategies. 

All applications submitted to Upskill Canada will go through an internal review process as well as an external review, provided by our Industry Review Panel, a group of industry leaders and hiring managers in talent, HR and people and culture roles, focused on reviewing proposals from a talent acquisition perspective. All proposals will be scored against an evaluation rubric with the Palette Skills board providing governance and fiduciary oversight. 

Our program application guide will provide details on what expenses are eligible or ineligible and any limits around costs. We expect proposals to provide budgets that are reasonable and defensible and in line with general market rates. As part of our application review process, we may come back with questions around certain expenses or budget lines if they appear to be outliers.

Programs with demonstrated track records of success that align with Palette’s upskilling model can be funded through Upskill Canada. Delivery partners will be asked to demonstrate plans to expand and/or increase the impact of existing programs through funding.

Funding will be provided to applicants shortly after funding contracts have been signed. Applicants will be informed about the success of their program funding within approximately 8-10 weeks after submission of the full application, once it is available at the end of April.




Yes, we encourage delivery partners to collaborate with other training partners to develop unique delivery models. 



Delivery partners retain all intellectual property rights for any upskilling programs that are funded through Upskill Canada.






Upskilling programs will start based on the start dates agreed upon in the delivery contracts signed with partners. 

Upskilling programs can be up to 16 weeks in length.

Delivery partners can deliver programs in-person or virtually or a hybrid. 

Upskill Canada will target employers located across the country, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in high-growth sectors, to better address their skills needs. It will focus on strengthening key growth sectors, including 

  • Digital technology
  • Cyber security
  • Agricultural technology
  • Clean technology
  • Biomanufacturing

Upskill Canada has a mandate to ensure programs are delivered in each region of the country and to work to generate proposals from partners in all provinces. Program applications can target any region, but ensuring an equitable distribution of programs based on targets will be a consideration in the funding evaluation process.

Have questions about Upskill Canada?

We’re here to help! Let us know how we can help support you be part of our national upskilling ecosystem.

Eligibility for SalesCamp

To be admitted and accepted into the program, you must be:
  • Be actively searching for work and ready to take on employment opportunities tech sales.
  • Be able to legally work in Canada. 
  • Not be a full-time student.
  • Be a highly motivated individual actively seeking out new opportunities.
  • Have least 3 years of formal work experience in Canada or abroad.
  • Have an English language rating of CLB Level 8, or IELTS of 6.5 overall.
  • Be available for Zoom sessions, many of which will be full-time.
  • Be able and committed to attending networking day events as part of regular programming.
  • Be comfortable using technology and learning online.
  • Live or intend to live in the province where the program is being offered.
  • Have a reliable internet connection, device, and a quiet environment for virtual learning.
  • Be committed and able to join the Canadian workforce full-time immediately following the program.
You may not be eligible if:
  • You do not pass our application and/or interview skills assessment. 
  • You are not actively searching or able to start a job in business-to-business tech sales.
  • You are not able to legally work in Canada.
  • You do not reside in the province where the program is operating.
  • You are going to school full-time.
  • You do not have three years of work experience outside of your studies.
  • You are interested in taking SalesCamp solely for learning purposes, but are building your own business and not intending to work in the field.

Download the Fact Sheet

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